MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A pile of stuffed animals marks the spot where 15-year-old Justin Thompson fell, fatally shot by an off-duty Memphis police officer on a school night in a working-class neighborhood.

The Sept. 24 shooting is still under investigation, but the question of whether Officer Terrance Shaw used excessive force makes the case one more example for critics who say there is a years-long culture of misconduct in the police department of Tennessee's largest city.

This year, at least 23 Memphis officers and civilian personnel have been charged with crimes, from DUI and drug dealing to human sex trafficking. Going back to 2004, dozens of officers in the 2,400-officer force have been charged with corruption.

Thompson's death was a tipping point for Mayor A C Wharton Jr. in recently ordering a review of the department by an outside group, like Miami, Los Angeles and other major cities with troubled departments have done in the past.

Wharton says the department's arrests are causing the public to lose faith in its police. Among the most shocking of the arrests this year was an officer charged with sex trafficking, accused of making a deal while on duty to take prostitutes to work at a party in Mississippi.

That officer was investigated and charged by the FBI's Tarnished Badge Task Force. It also investigated an officer charged with computer fraud and another charged with drug possession. Other officers have been charged this year with theft of property, felony shoplifting, domestic violence and DUI.

The call for an external investigation has put Police Director Toney Armstrong on the defensive. He says he's not resigning despite heavy public scrutiny.

Members of the community have held rallies decrying police corruption, saying they no longer trust the men and women charged with protecting them.

A group of church pastors – always an influential part of the Memphis community – has expressed support for the department and Armstrong, who has noted that the bad behavior of a few officers is tainting the actions of the entire force.

Community groups are trying to improve communication between residents and the police department. The Mid-South Peace & Justice Center is organizing meetings in which residents can talk directly with officers and voice their concerns.

"There are some who are angry, there are some who feel they are not being communicated with," said Melissa Miller-Monie, who organizes the Community-Police Relations project. "Some want answers. Some want changes in policies."

Even the cases that have not ended up in arrests have angered the community. An officer involved in a crash that killed two people in late August did not have his lights or sirens on, a violation of police policies.

"It appears that it's a systemic issue," said law enforcement consultant Melvin Tucker, who has served as police chief in four Southern cities. "It's a cultural problem more than likely. Something in the organization is allowing that to happen or not discouraging it."

Other cities major U.S. cities have faced similar problems and investigations hoping to solve them. After the Rodney King beating in 1991, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley appointed lawyer Warren Christopher to lead a commission to investigate the city's police department. Christopher later became President Clinton's Secretary of State.

The Christopher Commission recommended stronger leadership, better screening of applicants, stronger training practices, and the creation of an inspector general position to oversee misconduct cases. It didn't prove to be a cure-all. In the late 1990s, the LAPD became mired in the Rampart corruption scandal with officers stealing drugs, framing gang members and committing extortion.

Wharton hasn't said which organization he would ask for the review, but experts have said that organizations like the International Association of Chiefs of Police or the Police Executive Research Forum would be good choices.

Wharton also has the option of asking the U.S. Justice Department for help. Since 2010, the Justice Department has reached agreements in Seattle, New Orleans and Warren, Ohio, to resolve complaints about misconduct in their police departments.

Tucker said whoever is brought in should look at whether the misconduct is taking place within certain divisions of the department and whether there's a system to identify officers with several complaints against them.

"That's the way that you prevent these things from turning into DUI's and sex trafficking and all that," Tucker said. "The answer is not always firing the police chief."

Shoring up hiring standards is a logical step. Miami's police department suffered serious problems after it lowered standards to raise the number of officers in the 1980s. The Miami River Cops were accused of robbing cocaine dealers of cash and drugs, and at least 20 were sentenced to prison. Hiring standards were raised after the scandal, and that helped reduce police corruption in Miami.

Recently, the Memphis City Council has discussed whether requiring a four-year undergraduate degree might slow the number of arrests.

The current requirement is two years of college or two years of military service, or at least three years at another department with at least 20 officers. Those requirements were reduced to a high school diploma or GED in 2008 but were reinstated in 2010.

Currently, the department does not use polygraph examinations in hiring. The practice could root out some potentially problematic officers, said Mike Hill, program manager at the University of Tennessee's Law Enforcement Innovation Center and a former officer in the suburb of Germantown.

Retired officer and law enforcement consultant Andrew Scott said Armstrong must be willing to set aside personal relationships developed over more than 20 years of serving in the Memphis Police Department and be willing to discipline officers or supervisors he knows well.

Armstrong, a Memphis native, was promoted to police director in April 2011.

"The question begs: Can he and will he have the ability and the strength and the fortitude to do what needs to be done to remove people from office and replace them with competent people?" Scott said.

Meanwhile, Shirley Thompson waits for answers. She wants to know why an off-duty officer would shoot her son. Authorities say Officer Shaw was a victim of an armed robbery that ended in the teen's shooting, but few other details have been released.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, asked to probe the shooting, has several questions to answer, including what Thompson's involvement was in the robbery and if Shaw used excessive force in shooting Thompson.

Shirley Thompson and other relatives say her son's Facebook page, which had photos of him flashing gang signs, fanning out cash, and making statements about his involvement in street life, are not an accurate portrayal of her son. She believes her son did not rob anybody.

"I'm just waiting on the truth," she said during a candlelight vigil for her son. "I'm just staying strong for my son. I'm looking for the mayor to give me the truth."

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In this Jan. 28, 2015, frame from a dashcam video provided by the Inkster Police Department, an officer punches Floyd Dent many times in the head while another officer tries to handcuff Dent, who is on the ground in Inkster, Mich. Dent's face and shirt were bloodied. Police say Dent disregarded stop signs and refused to pull over, then resisted arrest and threatened them. (AP Photo/Inkster Police Department via Detroit News)

In this combination of still images taken from an April 4, 2015, video provided by attorney L. Chris Stewart, representing the family of Walter Lamer Scott, Scott appears to break away from a confrontation with city patrolman Michael Thomas Slager, right, in North Charleston, S.C. In the video, as Scott runs away, Slager pulls out his handgun and fires at Scott, who drops to the ground after the eighth shot. Slager has been fired and charged with murder following the release of the dramatic video. (AP Photo/Courtesy of L. Chris Stewart)

In this photo provided by the Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Sheriff's Office is Tulsa County reserve deputy Robert Bates. Police say Bates, a 73-year-old white reserve deputy, thought he was holding a stun gun, not his handgun, when he fired at 44-year-old Eric Harris in an April 2 incident. Harris, who is black, was treated by medics at the scene and died in a Tulsa hospital. (Tulsa County Sheriff's Office via AP)

An officer in Baltimore City was charged with animal cruelty after allegedly slitting the throat of Nala (pictured with owner), a pet who had escaped from her home.
Nala had nipped at a woman's hand earlier in the day, but even that woman was horrified by officers' treatment of the dog. She noted that Nala was not aggressive, but had bitten her only "out of fear."
Click here to read the whole story.

In April 2012, an officer in Sulphur, Louisiana approached two men on trespassing charges and, while apprehending them, tied one of the men's dog to a nearby fence.
A third party witness at the scene said that the dog was rubbing up against the officer, who was petting him, but then "all of a sudden, he just jumped down and shot the dog in the head."
The officer later claimed the dog had bitten him, but both the witness and the dog's owner say that's not true.
Click here to read the whole story.

FILE - This July 5, 2011 file still frame from security camera video, released May 7, 2012, by the Orange County District Attorney, shows an altercation between Fullerton police officers and Kelly Thomas at the Fullerton, Calif., bus depot. Thomas died days later. Two officers, Manuel Ramos, and Jay Ciccinelli, are on trial charges related to his death. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Orange County District Attorney, File)

Oscar Grant was shot by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer early on New Year's Day 2009 in Oakland, Calif. Cellphone footage shows BART cops struggling with Grant and forcing him to lay facedown on the platform after reports of a fight on the train. Officer Johannes Mehserle was seen shooting Grant in the back once, killing him. He was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter, but acquitted of second degree murder.

In one of the most notorious cases of police brutality, a bystander recorded four Los Angeles Police Department officers beating Rodney King with their batons in 1991 after they pulled him over for driving erratically. When the videotape emerged days later of the attack, the four cops were charged with assault. A jury acquitted them, sparking riots in April 1992 that killed 55 people and led to 12,000 arrests over seven days.

Off-duty Chicago police officer Anthony Abbate was sentenced to two years probation and anger management classes after being captured on video beating a female bartender in 2007.

Chicago police officer William Cozzi was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison after he was caught on camera in 2005 handcuffing a man to a wheelchair and beating him in a hospital. Cozzi claimed the victim -- a man who was seeking treatment for stab wounds -- had attacked him.

A New York City police officer was acquitted of assault and harassment after being videotaped knocking over cyclist Christopher Long during a "Critical Mass" bike ride through Times Square in 2008. Patrick Pogan resigned from the police force and was found guilty of filing false documents after video emerged that contradicted his claim that Long swerved into him.

Ahmed Amadou Diallo, 22, seen here in an undated photo, was gunned down at his home in the Bronx borough of New York early Thursday morning, Feb. 4, 1999. Four white police officers from the elite Street Crime Unit fired 41 shots at Diallo, a black West African immigrant who had no police record and was unarmed. Diallo was hit 19 times and died instantly. The officers' lawyer says Diallo gestured with his hands, leading the police to think he was reaching for a gun.

Abner Loiuma became a symbol of unchecked police force after the Haitian immigrant was sodomized with a broomstick by cops in a New York City police station in 1997. The officer responsible for the attack, Justin Volpe, was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

London newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson died after police officer Simon Harwood hit him with a baton and knocked him to the ground as he walked away from police during a G-20 protest in 2009. Harwood will stand trial in October for manslaughter, according to The Guardian.

Michael Mineo accused an NYPD cop of sodomizing him with a baton after getting busted for smoking marijuana at a Brooklyn subway station in October 2008. A jury cleared the officer accused in the attack as well as two others charged with covering up the alleged assault.

In this May 24, 2010 file photo, former Chicago Police commander Jon Burge departs the federal building in Chicago. Burge, whose name has become synonymous with police brutality and abuse of power in Chicago, was convicted in 2010 of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying in a civil suit when he said he'd never witnessed or participated in the torture of suspects.

The trial is underway for four New Orleans police officers accused of killing two people and wounding four others in the shooting on the Danziger Bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The suspects, pictured left to right, are Robert Faulcon Jr., Robert Gisevius Jr., Kenneth Bowen, and Anthony Villavaso II.

Security cameras in a Manhattan apartment building recorded NYPD officer David London hitting Iraq war veteran Walter Harvin almost 20 times with a baton even after he had handcuffed him. The incident began when Harvin entered the building without a key and refused to identify himself to London. Footage shows Harvin shoved London, but the cop lied to investigators by claiming that he'd been punched before retaliating with his baton. A jury acquitted London of assault and making false statements in 2010.

Eleanor Bumpurs, a 66-year-old African American woman, was killed by NYPD officers who were trying to evict her from her Bronx public housing apartment in 1984 for falling behind on her rent. City housing authority workers called in the cops, because they claimed that Bumpurs -- shown in an undated photo -- was mentally ill and that she menaced them with a knife while refusing to vacate her home. The officer who shot Bumpers twice with a shotgun was acquitted in 1987.

The 2006 shooting of 23-year-old Sean Bell raised questions in New York City about the NYPD's use of excessive force. On what would have been his wedding day, Bell was shot and killed by police in a hail of 50 bullets outside a strip club in Queens. Officers said they thought the victim and his friends, who were celebrating Bell's bachelor party, were planning on retrieving a gun from their vehicle when they opened fire. After months of protests around the city, Officers Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper were acquitted in 2008.